Saturday, April 25, 2009

Phew! Stila is Saved!


This might be old news to some of you, but worthy of mention. Just when I thought Stila Cosmetics was going to go bust, they were saved in time by a NY private equity firm Patriarch Partners. Phew! Their website was down for weeks and they were canceling online orders, so there were speculations among my girlies. Although I am not a die-hard fan of Stila, I love some of their products like their lip gloss ($22) in brown sugar and vanilla and their seafoam eyeshadow duo ($20).

IMHO, Stila's new Shine of Gift & Glaze is the best priced item in the entire Stila collection. At $ 22 (on sale from $28), it is a super good deal considering that full size one at 0.08 oz is also $22. This set of 6 0.03 oz lip glosses features Stila's top-selling shades 1. Vanilla (pearly nude), 2. Brown Sugar (shimmering golden nude), 4. Grapefruit (frosted pink), 5. Apricot (melon nectarine), and their new shades 3. Raisin (shimmering golden plum) and 6. Gumdrop (vibrant pink). The last time I checked, it was sold out on Sephora's website, but they might restock soon.


Stila makes very good products and would be considered somewhat in the same league as its competitors MAC, Urban Decay, Nars, Benefit, Too-Faced etc. The only downside is that their prices are kind of on the steep side. For example, Urban Decay's Sparkler Pen for Lips has almost the exact same packaging as the Stila Lip Gloss and has only 0.01 oz less product, but it cost only $10 ($12 cheaper!). Perhaps their pricing has something to do with why they ran into financial problems (just my guess...don't quote me on this). What I really hope this time round with their new investors, Stila will rethink their strategy and pricing to attract more make up junkies like us! Cross my fingers.